Delphi

{del′-fy}

How to Cite This Article

Delphi, located in Phocis, Greece, on the lower southern slopes of Mount Parnassus near the Gulf of Corinth, was a sacred city to the ancient Greeks. It was called the omphalos (navel or center) of the Earth, and this was designated by a large, rounded, conical stone, which was also called the omphalos. Delphi was sacred to Apollo, the god of prophecy and patron of philosophy and the arts, whose famous temple and prophetic shrine were there. The temple within the surrounding sanctuary was the home of the famous Delphic oracle. Consulted by Oedipus, Socrates, and other figures both mythical and real, it gave its messages in such ambiguous ways that it could seldom be proved wrong.

Delphi was also sacred to Dionysus, the god associated with wine, fertility, and orgiastic dance, and to the nine muses, patron goddesses of music, literature, and history. For the Greeks, therefore, Delphi was the center in which opposing creative forces—the rational creativity of Apollo and the irrational creativity of Dionysus—merged and from which all creative forms emerged. In honor of the killing of the monster Python by Apollo, the Pythian Games were held in Delphi every four years. During the 1890s and the early 20th century archaeologists unearthed much of the gymnasium and stadium where these games were held. The sanctuary of Apollo and other buildings, such as the treasuries that lined the Sacred Way to Apollo's temple, have also been excavated and many notable works of sculpture found. The archaeological site has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to Plutarch and Strabo, the trancelike state in which the Delphic oracle (always a woman) delivered her prophecies was induced by vapors that rose from the earth underneath the temple of Apollo. Long dismissed as a legend, this story received confirmation from the findings (2001) of geologist Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and archaeologist John R. Hale, who reported the existence of faults in the rock below the shrine, from which ethylene gas—known to have an intoxicating effect—may have escaped to the surface.

Further Reading:

Fontenrose, Joseph, The Delphic Oracle (1979).

Lewis, Neville, Delphi and the Sacred Way (1987).

Morgan, Catherine, Athletes and Oracles: The Transformation of Olympia and Delphi in the Eighth Century B.C. (1990).

Wilkins, Eliza, The Delphic Maxims in Literature (1993; repr. 1997).

How to cite this article:

MLA (Modern Language Association) style:

Wolverton, Robert E. "Delphi." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.

Chicago Manual of Style:

Wolverton, Robert E. "Delphi." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online http://gme.grolier.com/article?assetid=0082760-0 (accessed October 13, 2010).

APA (American Psychological Association) style:

Wolverton, R. E. (2010). Delphi. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 13, 2010, from Grolier Online http://gme.grolier.com/article?assetid=0082760-0